Pop Quiz! Subject: Chores?
by defaultNEET
Summary: Every evening after school, Add drops by Ara's house to check on her, since her parents work overseas. Of course, this has nothing at all to do with any personal reasons, perish the thought! She's only an idiot with a sweet smile, after all... This is the story of a high-school wannabe-scientist faced with a fateful challenge on one of these visits.
1. Ch 1: He's only an idiot, after all

A sudden pop quiz can knock some people quite off-balance.

When the teacher sounded that declaration of war, a certain red-haired idiot mumbled something about how it wasn't fair that he had just stayed up all night cramming his math assignments, and he'd hoped not to have to see that monster's face again for a while.

He'd forgotten that the one tasked with 'raising' the monster could be just as scary.

"Sieghart!"

"Y-y-yes sir!"

"You waited until Thursday night to start on something I assigned on Monday?" A killer glint reflected off the teacher's glasses, suggesting that he'd better receive a good answer.

"Y-yes sir… b-ut I finished all fifteen pages of it! I'll still have turned it all in on time!" He attempted an oblivious kind of smile, the only kind you can really put on when facing someone aiming a killer glint at you. The kind that never works because everyone knows you can't smile at a math teacher. Suddenly he noticed that everyone was staring at him.

Even his teacher seemed taken aback. "All fifteen …?"

A derisive laugh ended the awkward silence. "Kheheh… you red-haired dolt, you knew that those fifteen pages are due _next_ Friday, right?"

"…?!"

"Kim, I will tolerate no verbal abuse in my class."

"What? But he's really an idiot, so-" He froze as that killer glint switched targets.

"Kim… I can lower your grade to an A minus… I am sure there will be no more of that?"

"Y-y-yes sir!"

* * *

Thankfully, that class was the last one of the day. Everyone gathered up their belongings and slowly drifted away in little groups, while conversations drifted around like the autumn leaves that had left the trees empty. Meanwhile, that red-haired idiot was lying face-down across the top his desk.

"Ahhh, that was exhausting."

"Heh, the plebeian complains after he screws himself up? How amusing."

"Shut up! You made me look like an idiot in front of the entire class!"

"They all _know_ you're an idiot anyways, so it should be fine, right?"

As the two high school students continued their childish bickering with each other, another of their classmates skipped over, schoolbag already packed, and ready to head home.

"Haha, Add is as honest as ever, hm~?"

The white-haired boy glanced beside him, and immediately froze. Ara was, by Add's opinion, one of the cutest girls he knew. The thought had flashed through his head that not even any 2D girl could stand up to her, immediately followed by, _I actually just thought that? Am I that much of an otaku?!_

At the moment, with her hands clasped behind her back, a mind-jumbling, heart-melting smile on her face, head slightly tilted, she looked impossibly pretty in the afternoon sun coming in the wide classroom windows. It was a sight that could tip your composure like a heavy vase off a high shelf.

Add was so preoccupied with fumbling to catch the vase before it shattered, that he failed to even say hello.

"Ara, I don't understand. Why is someone as nice as you friends with a jerk like him?"

"Hmm? Maybe because… Add's actually a nice person too?"

"What? You think _he's_ nice?! Wait, don't tell me you've fallen for him!"

By now, Add had put the proverbial vase back in its proper place, but at that last statement he had to grab on to it to stop it from tilting again.

 _Crap, I hope Ara doesn't say something awkward. This would be a really bad moment for a first confession scene and I'd want something more romantic than a classroom setting!_ He stood up, putting his fingers to his forehead and feigning apathy.

"Heheh, I'll take that compliment from you, Ara, but even if you hold feelings for me, the only things I'm interested in are my grades!"

"Hey, Mr. Oh-So-Smart, you realize that everyone was laughing at you because you looked so frightened when the teacher threatened you with an _A minus_ , right?"

"H-heh, well-" Even if it came from the red-haired idiot, a good point was hard to argue against, and while Add made a futile attempt to respond, Ara innocently compounded on his plight.

"Haha, I thought that was pretty funny too! Add usually have gone on mouthing off, but our teacher really is smart!"

"Ah, darn you two," he muttered, pointing a finger at the fiery plebian. "Well then, how many of the questions did you get right on that pop quiz?"

"…Well, nowhere close to yours, of course, but I think I did pretty well. I managed to get 72% even though I barely slept last night."

"I-I got a 68%… But numbers are really confusing, you know! Especially when there are letters mixed in the numbers too! Anyway, you've made me curious now, so tell us what you got!"

"Darn it Ara, that's exactly what he wanted you to say." muttered the third member of their conversation.

Add, brushing aside the thought of, _she's really cute when she's flustered, too_ , dramatically reached for one end of the sheet of paper face-down on his desk.

"Kheheheheh… Well, I didn't do as well as I'd wanted, but even a genius is only human …" With a triumphant "Hah!" he drew up the sheet in a flourish and presented it to the two, then drew himself up, awaiting the expressions of awe that were sure to follow after the stunned silence.

But first, a rather puzzled silence ensued. Not that Add could tell, since one type of silence sounds rather similar to any another type of silence. A self-appreciating smile remained on his face.

On the bottom left of the page was a large, red, number 66.

Ara tentatively put her hand up and pointed at the sheet.

"Um, Add?"

"Khehehe… yes?"

"You're holding it upside down."

"What?!"

At this, the red-haired idiot could hold it in no longer, and burst out in laughter.


	2. Ch 2: November sunset on another day

_Well, that didn't turn out so well…_ At least, the rest of the day seemed to be settling back into its daily routine. Clad in sweaters, scarves, and jackets, the students of Feita High headed home in ones and twos, breathing out little clouds of vapor in the crisp November air. To the side of the traffic pouring through the wide, tile-paved pavilion directly in front of the school, Add stood in front of a vending machine. Inserting a handful of change, he then punched a couple of buttons, and a moment later a bottle of iced tea announced its arrival at the bottom of the machine with a dull thump.

 _Anyway, as usual, I'll head over to Ara's house later._ Leaning over the railing, Add, warm in his black, faux-leather jacket, took a deep breath of the refreshingly cold air that stung the inside of his nose. The temperature made the atmosphere leave a damp, almost metallic aftertaste on the roof of his mouth, mingling with the scent of his tea. Patches of conversation drifted from parting friends while he absentmindedly observed the leaves tumbling in the current that violently rippled folded over itself in the wide but shallow river beside the school. Students hurried across the small wooden bridge onto cars and buses idling on the side of the road running parallel to the river. For most of the year, the trees that lined either bank would keep the sun out, but for this season, the setting winter sun stretched through the leafless branches and sharpened the entire scene with an orange hue. Ara, crossing the river with a group of her friends, waved at Add, but he pretended not to notice.

Once, Ara had asked Add, why he couldn't just walk home with her if he was going to visit anyways?

"I always thought, maybe Add's staying behind and watching everyone leave because he's making observations for one of those… those things scientists do when they write a paper with shocking new information after doing lots and lots of observation. But then, wouldn't he be taking notes too, with three or more colored pens or markers?"

He had offhandedly thrown an answer over his shoulder while picking up his pace.

"You mean a scientific study? Heh, of course not... I have no interest in people, and that wouldn't help at all with my grades or getting me into the best technical college, so it would just be a waste of time. Anyway, you should work on improving your grades too, you know. They're not going to get you anywhere in life!"

"There's more to life than grades, and don't try to avoid my question!" Chasing after him, Ara had tried to catch his gaze, but he uncomfortably looked in the other direction.

"What do you mean? I already gave you an answer. I'm the one who doesn't understand though, how can you be so nice to so many annoying people?"

For some reason, Ara had gotten upset. With a rare hint of anger in her eyes, she had planted herself defiantly in his path.

"Add, why can't you just answer me?"

 _W-wow, so even cute, innocent Ara has a scary side, huh?_ Add had been taken aback by the sudden explosion, and after frantically searching for an escape, had finally given in.

"F-fine! The reason I don't want to walk home with you is just because, I don't want anyone to think the two of us are a couple! It's not like I have feelings for you or anything, so everyone would be under a misconception, and they wouldn't believe me even if I denied it! Also, both of us live alone, so a lot of weird rumors would start circulating, you know! That would be really bad for both of us!"

 _That's right, there's no way I could have fallen for someone so annoying, even if she's cute… Ahh, this is bad, even I know denials are cliché! No, no, there's no way…_

Add didn't know how Ara would take this answer, and cautiously looked at her. Surprisingly, she seemed more than a little flushed with embarrassment, at his answer and possibly at her own outburst earlier as well.

"W-Weird rumors, huh…?" she mumbled to herself, then added, almost as an afterthought, "So even stuck-up prodigy Add can get embarrassed about something like this, hmm?"

Even now, Add felt a bit flustered just recalling that memory. Tipping his head back, he finished the last of his tea, clearing his head with the last of the chilled drink. By now most of the traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, had dwindled away, and, finally leaving his post, Add tossed the bottle into a nearby trash can, heading for the bus picking up the last of the stragglers.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Sorry for the late update! I had planned to post this chapter earlier, but decided to wait until I had finished at least half of chapter three. Unfortunately, a virus took out my word documents, so I had to re-write the entire chapter...

Thankfully, most of my homework documents (over the past two years) were backed up on a flash drive.

If I had lost those...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this!

 _\- "B-baka! It's not like I like you or anything!" Add confirmed tsundere_


	3. Ch 3: Family that can't be there

Ara's house was only a couple blocks away from the bus stop, a short five minute walk after a fifteen minute ride. It was a pretty nice neighborhood, with small, stylish houses fringed by freshly clipped shrubs and lawns.

 _But of course, such a picturesque suburb would also come with a bigger price tag than usual._ Naturally, Add's disgustingly practical mind couldn't just stop at his first thought of ' _it's such a relaxing sight'_. Nevertheless, he was right. The area was a habitat for successful businessmen and V.S.M.*-certified doctors to small well-to-do families headed by college professors, all of them very conscious of their self-image, which in turn maintained and even improved the neighborhood's look.

The Haan family was no exception. Although Add didn't know that much about Ara's parents, she had mentioned that they had been requested by their company's president to personally facilitate the establishment of a new manufacturing complex overseas. Well, not exactly. Ara had actually said something more like, 'the boss himself asked them to help set up a new factory somewhere far away!'

Still, the bottom line was the same: even though it was a nice house, for the past ten months, Ara had no one to share it with aside from their regular handful of visits home. At least she had kind old Mrs. Rose, the gray-haired family doctor who was at the moment officially signed as her guardian and brought over the occasional casserole or lasagna steaming from her kitchen up the street.

And so, for nearly a year now, Add had been stopping by to, as he put it, 'help granny Rose look after you'. Mrs. Rose had clearly left quite an impression on Add if he was to actually admit to helping someone, but that's another story.

At the moment, a certain familiar someone finally noticed Add walking up the street and leapt up to open her window. Hair fringed with orange in the evening glow, she leaned outside to wave at him.

"Hey Add!"

"Hey." Turning off the sidewalk onto the five feet of cobblestone that cut through the standardly immaculate lawn to the front door, Add gave her a nod in response, not bothering to take either hand out of his pockets to wave back.

Ara leaned precariously out the window to stare down at him. "Hey, we're not at school anymore, so you don't have to put so much effort into acting cool, you know!"

"Hah, are you saying I need to put effort into being natural? Oh by the way, if you fall out of that window right now, I'm just going to causally step to the side. If I tried to catch you I'd probably die instead."

"Eh?" Ara's eyes traveled from Add to the stone under his feet, and she cautiously shuffled a couple feet back. "I-I'm not that clumsy! It would be really embarrassing for anyone to die from falling out their own window…"

"It's kind of useless to protest that it wouldn't happen to you if you're going to move back until I can only see the top half of your head…"

"Ah, well, I guess I wouldn't want to risk killing you."

"I just said I'd step aside if you fell."

Ara's eyes shifted to the side. "I don't think Add would do that," she whispered to herself.

It was kind of useless for Add to protest that he wasn't a nice person when his actions said something entirely different. But for the moment, his sassy mouth wasn't done yet.

"Hey, what are you still mumbling to yourself about up there? Hurry up and open the door like any normal person would instead of talking to me from the window!"

"!" Realizing her mistake, Ara flushed and fled from the window.

Fifteen minutes later, Add was seated at the coffee table with the contents of Ara's schoolbag on his left, the owner of the mess on his right, and an open math textbook in front of him. Indoors, it was much warmer, and he had hung up his leather jacket. The scent of tea leaves drifted through the room from two steaming cups next to which sat a plate of soy sauce rice crackers. Add took a sip of his tea.

"Ara, I'd say that I couldn't believe I'm helping you with your schoolwork again, but I really can't be surprised given your track record and my top tier grades."

"But track is the one place at school where I'm pretty sure I can do better than you… You mean my math record?"

"Track record can mean your record for anything, silly plebian. It doesn't have anything to do with track." Add muttered something about athletics not being important at all, but the reminder had clearly somewhat irked his perfectionist core. He placed his cup back on the glass tabletop.

"Anyway, shall we begin tonight's lesson?"

The next two hours were intense and industrious. Add was surprisingly effective at simplifying complex ideas to the level that even idiots could understand - after all, what would the use of being a genius be if everyone else scorned your knowledge as 'scientific mumbo-jumbo'? Although Ara was hopelessly confused with her math and science textbooks at first, she eventually managed to finish the day's assignments properly. Mostly.

"Ara… we're out of crackers again."

A suspicious crunching noise came to a guilty stop as Ara mumbled, "Jusht checked… Teh bag'sh empty too."

* * *

"Alright well, see you tomorrow Ara." With the day's work done, teacups emptied, and snacks finished, it was time to go home.

"Bye! Wow… it's all dark outside already. Be careful!"

"Heh, don't worry about me, it's only a five-minute walk to my house."

"No, I mean, look out for the-!"

"-? Ow!" Turning around, Add had bumped his head onto an object that had somehow avoided the light streaming from the doorway.

"-Hanging flowerpot. Um."

Add rubbed the back of his head and turned to look at the offending garden fixture. "I'm fine. It's only a light wooden flowerbox."

Ah, hold on, let's rewind the conversation a little. A five-minute walk?

That's right - Add is also part of this opulent neighborhood.

Well, given his prestige, it shouldn't be a surprise, right?

"Haha… well, take care of yourself tonight, Add."

Also, not only does he share a neighborhood with Ara…

"I'll be fine. After all…"

Do you recall an earlier conversation?

"…I've been living alone for longer than you have, remember?"

They both lived by themselves, but unlike Ara…

Add's parents could never return for a visit.

A sad smile formed on the soft lips of the idiot who couldn't do anything but care. "…That's why I worry sometimes."

In the moonlight, a bittersweet yet resigned smile formed on the scornful lips of the genius who pretended not to care. "Worry about your upcoming tests more, idiot."

With a lighthearted wave, he detached himself from the melancholy atmosphere and headed home.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Whew, I'm finally back! Those two first weeks of June were crazy... Among other things, most of my first week was spent studying for an exam, then I got sick on Sunday, the day after I took the exam. Finally recovered by Monday... Here is a longer chapter to make up a bit for the lapse!

The beginning of the chapter was a bit of a ramble, but I hope the picture I tried to paint at the end makes up for it.

* * *

 ***** V.S.M - Velder School of Medicine.

*I know Ara isn't Japanese but I like Japanese snacks so I put them in the story...

*As a bit of background, Add lives alone in a house rented by his uncle, who is the boss of a rich tech company. A hired lady comes by to take care of the house each day.

Add usually buys his own food and only stays home to sleep at night.


	4. Interlude: thoughts of rain and warmth

November 11th, Friday

Teacher tried to surprise us with a pop quiz in Social Studies today; as usual, I got a near-perfect score. Had a little confrontation with that red-haired idiot a bit later, unfortunately he ended up having the last laugh after I embarrassed myself somewhat in front of him and Ara…

Must be more careful in the future.

Writing this at Ara's house right now; finished explaining schoolwork to her so there is really nothing else to do. Will be staying here as late as possible to make sure that hired cleaning lady will be gone by the time I get home. I guess Ara can be surprisingly good company, too.

Note to self: look for some of these crackers next time I go to the grocery.

11/11/21

It's eleven-eleven today! Four of the same digit in a row is pretty rare in a date, isn't it? Maybe it should be some kind of holiday since it happens once a year…

Today Add came over to help me study again! He's amazing and knows everything as usual. I'm kind of jealous of his perfect scores!

At the same time though… Even though he won't admit it, I know he gets along okay with everyone else at school, but way too often, I see him all by himself. His parents passed away when he was little. Thinking about it, I'm probably lucky he decided to tell me. I've never heard him mention any other family either. Sometimes, I just wonder if he has anyone who really cares for him.

November 12th, Saturday

Writing this as I listen to the heavy rain on the roof.

As he does every single weekend he remembers, my uncle gave me a call again. Yes, of course my grades are still fine. They'll barely be different from when you asked a couple weeks ago. Yes, yes, I'm looking after myself alright.

I don't get why he keeps calling. I'm sure by now he's noticed I still hate him, and there's no chance he actually cares about me either. He never comes to visit and does everything at his own convenience. All he thinks about is the company and how he can make more money. Does he just feel obligated to look after me because he's my uncle, or does he think he can get something out of me? Like hell I'd have anything to do with him.

I've written a bit more than I intended... Guess it's time to go to bed and forget about him!

Good night.

11/12/21

Wow, this weather is amazing! It's ten already, and the rain's still going strong outside! Earlier, the sudden downpour caught me on the way home from the grocery and I got completely drenched. I was freezing by the time I got home! Clouds can move faster than I thought.

I got some more of those soy-sauce crackers for next time Add comes over. We cleaned them out completely yesterday! I wonder how he's doing?

You know, there's nothing like a giant rainstorm outside to make your own room feel warm and cozy. However his day went, I'm definitely sure he'll be able to sleep well tonight~

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Better not say much about why this is late again or I'd have to rename this section the "Author's Excuse". More updates should be happening though, with the ending of summer and beginning of the school season.

Add types his diary on his smartphone while Ara writes with pen and paper~


End file.
